Charles Henry Potts was born at the beginning of 1897 in Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire and baptised later that year on 4th July at St. John the Baptist Church in the village. He was the only child born to Harry Potts and Annie Mitchell. By 1901, Charles’ family had moved to Piccotts End just outside Hemel Hempstead where his father worked as a “Builder’s Carter”. His aunt, Lizzie Mitchell, was also living with the family at this time. At the next census in 1911, Henry had moved the family to Hemel Hempstead, and they were living at 15, Herbert Street behind the High Street. His sixteen-year-old cousin Edith Potts was living with the family and they also had a “Boarder” Alice Maud Batchelor. Charles’ mother Annie, along with Edith and Alice were working with Dickinsons in Apsley Mills and his father was recorded as a “Builder’s Labourer”. Charles was still at school in 1911, although aged fourteen he could have left the previous year, and it is not known where he went to work when his education was complete. He was still too young to enlist on the outbreak of war, but when he had reached the age of eighteen he volunteered in October 1915.

He travelled to Luton to attest and enlisted with the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). He would have been sent to Grantham to the Machine Gun Training Centre to learn the specialist skills required to handle either the heavy Vickers gun or the lighter Lewis gun. Training at Belton Park in Grantham took a minimum of five weeks and often much longer as the men of the MGC were taught the mathematics of the machine gun, firing, map reading and the use of semaphore flags. This was in addition to the normal basic training undertaken by new recruits to get them fit and prepare them for battle conditions. More than 100,000 men passed through the camp and Charles was among them. It is not known when Charles went to France, but it was probably around July 1917 after completion of his training and when he had reached the age of nineteen, so old enough to serve overseas. What does seem likely however, is that he was posted to the 190th Company MGC which was part of the newly formed 190th Brigade under the orders of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division which included the 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment and in which Charles would ultimately serve.

It is not clear when or why he transferred to the 4th Bedfords but it may have been in March 1918 when the 190th Coy. MGC moved to the 63rd Battalion MGC or he may have been wounded at some point and transferred to the Bedfords on his return. It is worth noting that the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was extremely well led from the top down, and the units were very highly motivated displaying a tremendously stubborn streak when events transpired against them. As a result, by the Armistice in November 1918, the Division had suffered almost 48,000 casualties, but had earned a reputation as one of the British Army's most elite fighting forces, possibly the best. Although the Division itself was disbanded and would never be reformed, today's Royal Marine Commandos have kept its “elite” status very much alive.

Charles time in France saw him go through some of the hardest fighting for over two years including the Battle of Ancre at the end of 1916 and the Arras Offensive in the first half of 1917. This was followed by the horrendous engagements in the Third Battle of Ypres towards the end of the year and this of course included the catastrophic Battle of Passchendaele in October and November. 1918 brought little respite and he was in action at the First and Second Battles of the Somme and his war culminated in the Battle of the Canal du Nord on 27th September when he was one of sixty-one men wounded. He was taken out of the line and despite being taken to a Base Hospital in Rouen he sadly succumbed to his injuries a week later.

Charles died of his wounds on Wednesday, 3rd October 1918.

He was commemorated on the War Memorial Plaque in St. Mary’s Church, High Street, Hemel Hempstead and on the War Memorial Scroll in St. Paul’s Church in Highfield in the town.

Charles is Remembered with Honour in St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France, where he is interred in Grave R. III. C. 2.

He was only 21 years old when he died.

Charles was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.